1956 USAC CHAMPIONSHIP CARS
In 1956 USAC sanctioned an even dozen points-paying events for their Championship car division. The season began with the Indianapolis 500 on May 30th and ended amid the cactus in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 12th.
Pat Flaherty took two wins including the prestigious Indy 500. His win count was matched by George Amick who took the checkered flag at both Langhorne and Phoenix. Pat O’Connor, Eddie Sachs, Tony Bettenhausen, and Jud Larson each scored a single win, but Jimmy Bryan took four wins, including three straight at Springfield, Milwaukee, and Du Quoin, on his way to the national title.
Bryan also won the non-points race at Williams Grove, Pennsylvania, on July 22nd, an event that the Williams Grove promoters cleverly staged on an otherwise off-week for the championship series. In fact, there was a huge gap in the 1956 champ car schedule. The Atlanta race was held on July 14th and the next race, at Springfield, wasn’t until August 18th. There was plenty of time for the Williams Grove promoters to wedge in a non-points event.
But they weren’t the only ones who noticed the gap in the schedule. Dayton Speedway promoter Blair Ratliff saw his chance and booked his own non-points event for the Dayton track for August 12.
[At right is the cover of the program for the championship car event.]
Here’s the report from Dick Wallen’s Fabulous Fifties book:
“The entry was definitely slim, with some less than enthusiastic about running on the high banks at all, much less just a week before Springfield. Bryan, Flaherty, Thomson, Amick and Freeland gave it a miss, but the latter’s usual ride, the Bob Estes car, was on hand with Veith giving it another try.
"With only 14 cars entered, there was no semi-main, but the four heats were won by O’Connor (fastest qualifier in the Sumar), Jim McWithey (Dayton Foundry KK4000), Dick Rathmann (Clancy Bardahl) and Gene Force (Wales). All 14 were still in action for the main.
"From his spot on the outside of the front row, Elmer George used the high groove to grab the initial lead from O’Connor. That lasted for 10 laps before the North Vernon Irishman became the front runner. It looked like Pat’s race, but Elisian had other ideas. As George fell off the pace, Elisian moved his temporary ride, the Zink No. 8, into second, and then stormed to the checkered flag and $1,650 of the impressive $9,475 pot. All 14 of the cars finished.”
According to the 1956 United States Auto Club Record Book provided by Rocky and Diane (Beck) Lane, the purse for the Dayton race was an even $10,000 and Elisian took just 18:07.60 to travel the 50 laps.
The John Zink Special that carried Elisian to the Dayton win was quite a race car. Flaherty scored one of his wins (not the Indy 500 where he used a Watson roadster) in the car, and on October 21st Jud Larson won in the car at Sacramento.
The August 12, 1956, Dayton race was the first and, sadly, the last time that the USAC Championship Car Division ever visited Dayton Speedway.
[Here's the story that appeared in a Dayton newspaper on Monday, August 13, 1956, and it provides a lot more detail.]
Elisian Ignores Oil Slick to Win
Turner’s Mishap Makes O’Connor, Leading Near the Finish, Cautious
By Ed O’Neil
Jack Turner, who was sitting in the pits when the championship cars finished their first race of a high-banked half-mile track, decided the outcome of the precedent-setting event at the Dayton Speedway Sunday afternoon.
He was waived off the track by United States Auto Club officials when his car began throwing oil. There were still 16 laps to go when he left the race and Pat O’Connor, having beaten back a stiff challenge by Turner earlier, was cruising to apparent victory.
Everyone began to play it cautious because of the oil slick, especially on the southeast corner from which most of the passing was being done.
Everyone, that is. Except resolute Ed Elisian. The husky protégé of the late Bill Vukovich found his Zink special set up by A.J.Watson, who engineered the last two Indianapolis 500-winning cars, could hold on the oil a little better than the rest and he steamed through to take over the lead on the 40th lap and go on to victory.
For it, he got $1650 from the $10,000 purse, a huge trophy and three kisses from movie actress Rhonda Fleming.
“Let’s face it,” Elisian puffed after taking the checkered flag. “I couldn’t have done it without the oil. That O’Connor was long gone.”
O’Connor offered no excuses. He frankly admitted he was made more cautious by the oil slicks. Besides, second place was worth $1300 to him.
Perhaps the happiest of them all afterward was Andy Linden. The friendly Californian who was expecting to go home empty-handed when the McNamara special’s brake lining burned out, took down third place and $1100 in the Glessner special. Linden had driven the best race of the day in working his way from 11th in the 14 car field for the 50-lap feature.
The feature was run in 18:07.80 an average speed of 91.202. During time trials three drivers broke the track record for sprint cars, as they they had expected the championship cars to be a second or so slower confined to the half-mile oval.
Turner had the fastest time, a 19.515 run – 101.665 mph – while Elisian turned it in 19.566 and Elmer George traveled a lap in 19.545. He holds the sprint car record here, 19.568. In all, 13 laps were run in the 19-second bracket.
Dayton-owned cars won two of the preliminary events. Jim McWithey took the second heat in George Walther’s Dayton Steel Foundry special and Gene Force won the consolation in the Pete Wales-Westwood Tool and Gage car. Force was seventh in the feature, but McWithey wound up 13th after encountering tire trouble.
The drivers found it was tougher tooling a big championship car around the high banks than guiding a sprint car. Eddie Sachs said “There was nothing wrong with my car. I just ran out of the strength to make left turns.” He finished fourth, but never dame up with a strong challenge.
The race was originally booked as a 100 lap event and the speedway never publicized the face widely that it had been halved by the USAC.
The crowd, estimated at 14,600 though didn’t seem to mind. The championship car event on a high-banked track had provided them with plenty of excitement. It may be that this successful test of this type of racing may open a new field to the high-banked tracks of the Midwest.
[Do you have additional photos or information regarding this event? If so, please contact me here!
Mickey --- April 10, 2009]
This photo (above), from the Gilberg Brothers collection, shows a relaxed Dayton Speedway pit area before the championship cars take to the high-banked track. The car is the Dayton-owned Pete Wales-Westwood Special driven by Gene Force. On this particular day, Force won the consi and finished a respectable seventh in the 50-lap feature.
(Above) The USAC Championship cars come down for the green flag to start the 50-lap grind. That's Elmer George on the outside of the front row, with Pat O'Connor on the pole.
---Photo from the Bob Mount Collection used with permission.
(Above) Ed Elisian in the John Zink Special leads Pat O'Connor to the checkered flag at Dayton Speedway.
(Below) Ed Elisian shows off the victor's trophy after winning the USAC Championship race at the Dayton track.
---Photos from the Bob Mount Collection used with permission.
(Below) Promoter Blair Ratliff pulled out all the stops for his one and only chance to run the champ cars at Dayton Speedway. The beautiful Rhonda Fleming was brought in to present the trophy, and a kiss, to winner Ed Elisian.
(Below) The Gilberg family was in attendance at the 1956 champ car event and they have the score sheet mom kept of the event.
